Three Years Worth of Scottish Comics Events

For many people the highlight of the comics year in Scotland over the past three years has been the Highlands International Comics Expo, Hi-Ex, organised by Richmond Clements and Vicky Stonebridge and held in Inverness in the first few months of each year.

For the last two years downthetubes contributor Jeremy Briggs has provided the Hi-Ex convention brochure with a review of the previous year's comics events in Scotland, with the Hi-Ex 2 brochure covering those events in 2008 and the Hi-Ex 3 brochure covering those events in 2009.

These articles came about after discussions at the first Hi-Ex showed that many people were unaware of the extent of comics events north of the border and that there was a general consensus amongst attendees that such events only happened in the Midlands and the south of England. The aim of these articles therefore was to document all comics related events in Scotland that were open to the general public, from talks to exhibitions, workshops to conventions.

Despite the decision to postpone Hi-Ex 4 from 2011 to 2012, Jeremy chose to continue with his annual Scottish review for 2010 and so, with the blessing of Rich and Vicky, downthetubes presents his 2010 review of comics events in Scotland on the downthetubes main site, as well as reprinting the 2008 and 2009 reviews from the Hi-Ex convention brochures.

Scottish Comics Events:
• Review Of The Year 2008
• Review Of The Year 2009
• Review Of The Year 2010


• More details of Hi-Ex, as well as photos from the past three conventions, can be found on the Hi-Ex website and the new Hi-Ex blog.

Reviews of the three Hi-Ex conventions can be found on the downthetubes blog:
• Hi-Ex in 2008
• Hi-Ex 2 in 2009
• Hi-Ex 3 in 2010

Councils Of The Galaxy Visit Scottish Schools

After last year's comic adaptation of The First Men On Mercury, created by Metaphrog for the Association for Scottish Literary Studies, was given away free on National Poetry Day to Strathclyde's school children, this year the charity Children in Scotland have gone one better.

This month they have been sending out 25,000 copies of a free comic to all Scottish schools, both primary and secondary, to encourage the pupils to take part in their school councils. The comic, entitled Councils Of The Galaxy, was illustrated and co-written by Edinburgh based artist Tobias Cook.

In Councils Of The Galaxy, Captain Captigan heads the alien crew of the star cruiser Anastas who are intrigued by the idea of Earth schoolchildren being able to contribute their views via their school councils since they come from a planet where head teachers spit acid and pupils don't have any say in the running of their schools.

Children In Scotland, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, conducted a comprehensive study of school pupil councils throughout Scotland between 2007 and 2009 and as well as making their results, entitled Having A Say At School, public through the normal channels of reports and the internet, they chose to present their findings to the school children themselves in the form of a full colour comic. Their director of research, Jonathan Sher, said, "Too often, the results of research done about students is not shared with them. And when it is, it tends to be boring and therefore ignored. We created this comic book because we are keen for students to enjoy the experience of learning the lessons from HASAS."

There are more details of the report on the Having A Say At School website.

There are more details and sample pages of the comic on Tobias Cook's website.

Scottish superhero film in the works from Mark Millar

Wanted and Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar has told Scottish TV network STV he is aiming big for his first directorial outing which will shoot later this year, taking his cues from the South African feature District 9.

In a video interview on the STV web site, the former 2000AD writer says he wants to create an epic Scottish superhero movie that will have a 21st-century Trainspotting vibe while being “as cool as X Men 2”, with plans to shoot this summer using a local cast and crew.

In first part of STV's extensive interview with Millar about all his projects, he explained: “The plan with the Scottish movie was that I realised that everything I’d written, even though I’m a Scottish guy from Coatbridge, everything I’d written was set in New York or Los Angeles. I just thought that’s quite weird; normally people will do something that is a wee bit to do with where they came from, so I thought that it was quite odd that I’ve never done that.

"It’s a lazy shorthand to always set something in America that everybody understands.

The film will shoot this summer, Mark reveals.

"... My plan is to start directing [the film] in June, June and July," he continues. "We’re prepping it just now. We want to do it with an entirely new cast, people nobody have seen before, young people from Glasgow and Edinburgh and work with local teams. Everyone that works on the movie we want to try and keep Scottish and just create a superhero movie with its own unique flavour.”

Millar is reconciled to the way his comics work has been adapted for the silver screen. “You compromise in film, it’s just the way it goes," eh says. "Sometimes you write a black character that when it comes out in the movie it’s a white character and so on. It’s a collaborative process and everybody’s got an opinion, and if you do something in the studio system you have to defer sometimes.

• View the first interview here on the STV web site

• In the second part of the interview, Mark talks about how Kick-Ass’s independent status was preferable to the studio system behind the likes of Superman.

Comics @ Wigtown Book Festival

Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway is Scotland's National Book Town and advertises itself as "a book lover's haven" with over a quarter of a million books in twenty book-related businesses. It is not surprising therefore that it has its own book festival.

This year the Wigtown Book Festival programme has more than 170 events over 10 days at the end of September and the start of October with authors such as Iain Banks, Roddy Doyle and Nick Nairn appearing. Also in the programme are two comics related events featuring writers Alan Grant and David Donaldson.

On Saturday 3 October at 1:30 pm Alan Grant will be interviewed by Stuart Kelly on the subject of his work on Batman and Judge Dredd as well as adapting Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped for the One Book-One Edinburgh reading campaign. The event will take place in the Stena Line Marquee in the town's main square and tickets cost £8 for adults and £4 for children.

The next day on Sunday 4 October, DC Thomson editor and writer David Donaldson will give An Audience with the Broons at 3 pm. Donaldson has been the scriptwriter for the Sunday Post's comic strips The Broons and Oor Wullie on and off since 1962, during which time he's been party to all the Broon family secrets, such as Pa Broon's flutters on the horses and his need for ample supplies of baccy. The event will also take place in the Stena Line Marquee and all tickets cost £8.

More details of the Wigtown Book Festival and its events including on-line ticket purchasing can be found on the festival website.

Yet More Starblazing In Dundee

After the Starblazer calendar, the Starblazer Adventures role playing game and the Starblazer artwork exhibition at the Lamb Gallery in Dundee, the Starblazer bandwagon continues to roll on.

As we mentioned back in July, sculptor Trevor Gordon was working an exhibition of his sculptures inspired by DC Thomson's Starblazer comic. This exhibition will now take place at Dundee's Mills Observatory beginning with a preview on the evening of Wednesday 9 September after which the exhibition will be open to the public each day (except Mondays in September) from Thursday 10 September until Monday 30 November. In addition to Trevor's original sculptural pieces, the exhibition will include original Starblazer artwork from DC Thomson's archive. Admission is free.

Anyone unfamiliar with DC Thomson's science fiction digest should read the overview of the title written by its editor, Bill McLoughlin, on the downthetubes main site.

As the Mills Observatory remains a working observatory, its opening hours change and expand as the evenings draw in and so it is best to check with their website as the exact opening hours on any given day.

With a 2009 calendar on the wall, an impressive role playing game book and now two exhibitions, how much longer will it be until a publisher decides that reprinting some of the actual Starblazer stories would be a good thing?

There are more details of the exhibition and its opening times at the Mills Observatory's website.

Comics @ Edinburgh BookFest

With only a week to go before the start of this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival it seems that the comics related events have proved to be exceedingly popular. So popular in fact that the majority of them are already sold out. Last year's EdBookFest events were featured in a downthetubes photo review here.

This year's Festival begins on Saturday 15 August with a Beano character workshop for children in which former Dandy editor, DC Thomson archivist and author of The History Of The Beano, Morris Heggie, former Beano and BeanoMAX editor Euan Kerr and Minnie The Minx artist Jim Petrie will take over the Studio Theatre to create a new Beano inspired character with the help of the children in the audience. This appears to be a repeat of their workshop at the Glasgow Aye Write book festival and, like the Glasgow one, is a sell out. Indeed most of the comics related workshops are sold out – Mio Matsumoto's manga art workshop, Gary Erskine's comic art workshop, David Bishop's adult writers workshop, Metaphrog's comic creation workshop and Chie Kutsuwada's manga art workshop are all sold out. In addition Gerald Scarf's political cartooning talk is sold out, as well as both Neil Gaiman's solo talk and his talk with Ian Rankin on their graphic novel work, plus writer Mark Millar's talk about his graphic novels.

At the moment there are still some tickets left for Mio Matsumoto's talk about her autobiographical manga book My Diary on Saturday 15 August, comics academic Dr Mel Gibson's talk entitled Visual Literacy, Learning and Graphic Novels on Thursday 20 August and Tony Lee's talk on his new Robin Hood graphic novel on Tuesday 25 August. Hopefully this ability for the Festival's comics related events to sell out will stand them in good stead with the new Festival Director due to arrive in 2010 whoever he or she may be.

Entrance to the Book Festival in Edinburgh Charlotte Square Gardens is free and there are two major book stall tents at the site. It is worth pointing out that most of the Festival's guests do a signing session immediately after their talks which are normally accessible to those without tickets for the talks themselves and will often sign additional copies of their books which are put on sale at cover price in the book stall tents. So if you are in Edinburgh, and you have missed the chance of getting tickets, it can still be worth turning up on the day for autographs.

More details of the events are on the Edinburgh International Book Festival's website.

Nexion Knuckles In

Nexion is a new anthology showcasing some of the fine underground comics talent of Glasgow and Edinburgh, full to the brim with Sci-Fi treats, Horror meats and myraid acts of unseemly behaviour!

Featuring 68 pages of black and white madness, all pulled together by the mighty yet modest Curt Sibling, other contributors include Iain Laurie, Craig Collins, Rob Miller, Jim Stewart, Dave Gordon and Secret Agent Comics publisher John Miller.

Nexion is available to buy for a measly £2.75 from Lulu.com and should surface at various UK comic marts over the next few months.

• For more info and sample pages visit: nexiongate.blogspot.com

In Review: Timeframes Dundee

Now in its third year, Dundee University's comics conference has become established as a regular part of the British comics year and both the number and the recognition factor of the comics creators who attend has increased year on year. Under the auspices of the Dundee Literary Festival, this year's Sunday conference had the theme of how comics both deal with, and subvert, the passage of time within their stories.

Prefaced by a morning workshop on writing for graphic novels by ex-2000AD editor David Bishop, the main conference began after lunch with an introduction by organiser Dr Chris Murray of the university's English department. After the pink Hawaiian shirt that he sported at the Beano celebration last year, Chris' shirt this time was a more ecological themed lime green. It is worth reiterating that Timeframes was set in a university and billed as a conference rather than a convention and so the first two speakers were academics with what was, to many in the audience, an over analysis of how time passes between the panels of a comic strip and how Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean used time in both the real and fictional worlds in the graphic novel of Signal To Noise.

The dryness of the initial two topics was brought into sharp perspective with the first talk by a comics creator. Manga Shakespeare artist Emma Vieceli bounded to the front of the lecture theatre in an explosion of enthusiasm that lifted the mood of the room considerably. Looking for all the world like a Manga character herself, with her long hair and black and white outfit, she took the audience through her adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing showing the real Italian locations that she had used as well as her more unusual graphical trickery to illustrate parts of the narrative. Borders, who were running the bookstall in the reception area, definitely missed out here as they did not have any copies of Much Ado About Nothing of sale on their stall which would have sold well for them based on the first enthusiastic applause of the day from the audience. The final speaker of the first section was Dr Mel Gibson, who regularly gives talks to non-academic audiences, covered how Bryan Talbot dealt with different time periods and the story-within-a-story concepts of Alice In Sunderland. While the earlier talk didn't inspire me to read Signal To Noise this did make me want to return to Talbot's book and the number of people looking at it on the bookstall afterwards suggested that I was not alone.

The break after this allowed for free refreshments before the audience moved upstairs to the Lamb Gallery where the exhibition of artwork from DC Thomson's Starblazer digest was formally opened. Starblazer editor Bill McLoughlin gave the attendees a gallery talk as he walked around the exhibits pointing out details and relating tales of his time on the title. Also at the gallery talk were artists Ian Kennedy, Keith Robson and Colin MacNeil with cover artists Kennedy and Robson each getting a wall of the gallery devoted to their work while one of MacNeil's covers had been blown up into an enormous poster sized print. This free exhibition is now open to the public until 22 August 2009.

The second selection of talks began with editor Bill McLoughlin and artist Keith Robson talking about their work at DC Thomsons in general and on the Starblazer title in particular with some good natured needling of each other over the differences between editorial and artistic concepts of the same idea. As much as they did overrun their time slot, I could have listened to much more of this. Next up was academic Peter Hughes Jachimiack with a presentation given the less than riveting title of "Days Of Future Passed: A 1970s Britain, Economic Downturn An Utopian Futures In Children's Science Fiction Comics". This actually turned out to be an interesting overview of Starlord comic with an emphasis on Ro-busters and in particular the Lep-R rocket/Midpoint Tower collision story, as illustrated by Ian Kennedy, with its 9/11 overtones. Next up was ex-Tharg David Bishop, a university lecturer himself nowadays, with an entertaining look at how Alan Moore dealt with the concept of time in two different 2000AD Future Shocks and the final Halo Jones story. Artist Gary Erskine came next with a heavily illustrated talk on his work on the Virgin Dan Dare series from concept to completion emphasising writer Garth Ennis' attention to visual detail on his designs. A short presentation from Insomnia's Cameron Coutts on the Edinburgh company's current and forthcoming range of graphic novels completed the session.

After more refreshments and a popular signing session from all the professionals still in attendance, the conference moved into its final section with its two keynote speakers. Writer Alan Grant had originally been intending to talk about his career in comics but had been inspired by the academic nature of the event to instead change his theme to his thoughts on the current state of comics aimed at primary school age children. Emphasising the general lack of stories in the titles and the blandness of those that were included, he ranged from Barbie to biblical Armageddon making the point that children just are not interested in bland stories. The conference concluded with a short talk from writer Warren Ellis which had been, if his blog is to be believed, written earlier that day and fuelled by Red Bull and cigarettes. With Ellis seated comfortably at the theatre's microphone he concluded with a long Q&A session allowing the audience more of an interactive opportunity with him than with any of the other guests.

With other literary and book festivals regularly charging upwards of £9 per guest talk, at £10 for the entire day, plus refreshments during each break, Timeframes was an absolute bargain. The university theatre was well equipped and spacious, if a little warm at times, and the reception area outside, with its good selection of graphic novels and comics related books for sale, allowed for socialising between sessions. In addition, with most guests taking the opportunity to chat in the reception area during the breaks, the day had a friendly feel which is what organiser Chris Murray was aiming for.

That said, the extant dichotomy between the erudition quest emanating from the divergent knowledge levels of the independent researchers present and the referential requirements of academic study may always prove to be a cause of concern prior to each Dundee event, treading as it does the fine line in its temporal ratio of conference vs convention, so the event chairs should remain aware that the interest length of the non-academics present will show an inverse ratio to the sentence density of dictionary level words used during the presentation of academic papers.

In other words, as long as the academic presenters remember that they are not presenting to a university level peer review but to a general albeit attentive and knowledgeable audience and that an illustrated conversational style is therefore preferable to reading from sheets of A4 with too many long words and too few full stops, then Dundee will remain as it was this year, an interesting as well as an unique part of the comics events diary.

Scotch Corner: A New Daily Art Blog

While the geographical Scotch Corner is (ironically enough) in England, on the web at least it will be firmly north of the border come Wednesday 1st of July.

Six Scottish artists have grouped together to produce a team blog in a show of Celtic solidarity with, or as the Scots put it "shamelessly inspired and ripped off from", the Eclectic Micks art blog.

The six artists will each take one day a week to post an illustration to the Scotch Corner blog -

Jon Hodgson is fair of face on Monday

Graeme Neil Reid is full of grace on Tuesday

Andy Hepworth is full of woe(!) on Wednesday

Gary Erskine has far to go on Thursday

Thomas Crielly is loving and giving on Friday

and they have yet to announce someone who works hard for a living on Saturday!

Which leaves the Sunday slot and, in a twist, they are offering the day as a guest slot for anyone who would like to contribute. Aspiring artists should contact the team via the e-mail address on their blog if they would like to be considered for one of the Sunday guest slots. You will be pleased to know that being "bonny and blithe and good and gay" on the Sabbath day is not a prerequisite for selection.

The Scotch Corner Daily Art Blog begins on Wednesday 1st July.

Comics Events At the Edinburgh Book Festival

It is almost that time of the year again when the chaos of Festival hits Edinburgh. International, Film, Fringe, Television and the Tattoo as well as many other smaller festivals invade the city, but the one of most interest to comics readers is the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Last year the BookFest put on more comics related events than ever before which downthetubes reviewed here. These proved to be so successful that the Festival in 2009 has a similarly diverse selection of comic and graphic novel related events.

They begin on Saturday 15th August when former Dandy editor, DC Thomson archivist and author of The History Of The Beano, Morris Heggie, former Beano editor and current BeanoMAX editor Euan Kerr and Minnie The Minx artist Jim Petrie will take over the Studio Theatre to create a new Beano inspired character with the help of the children in the audience. Later that day My Diary writer and artist Mio Matsumoto will talk about her autobiographical graphic novel which charts her fight against cancer. Following her talk she will take a comics workshop aimed at at teenage audience.

Wednesday 19th August brings political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe to the RBS Main Theatre to talk about his his life and work. This is followed by Neil Gaiman who will talk about his books and his graphic novels.

The following day, academic Dr Mel Gibson will discuss the theme of Visual Literacy, Learning and Graphic Novels before Neil Gaiman returns in the evening this time with Scottish crime author Ian Rankine to discuss their work on graphic novels.

On Monday 24th August Dan Dare artist Gary Erskine returns to the Festival for a second year to give a workshop aimed at teenagers on creating comics, while the next day brings a Writing Workshop on Graphic Novels. The writer due to take this event remains to be announced but it is worth pointing out that Tony Lee will be talking about his new Robin Hood graphic novel later the same afternoon.

Wednesday 26th August brings Metaphrog duo, Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, to the workshop tent for a workshop on creating a comic strip aimed at teenagers. Metaphrog have done many of these workshops in Scotland this year and last, but this is the first time that they have lead a workshop at the Book Festival.

Saturday 29th August bring Scottish writer Mark Millar to the RBS Corner Theatre to discuss his graphic novels which include Wanted and Kick-Ass, while the comics events conclude rather more sedately on Sunday 30 August with Manga Shakespeare artist Chie Kutsuwada (also known as Chi-Tan) taking a manga inspired workshop once again aimed at teenagers.

As with last year the Book Festival is once again providing a comics programme for a wide variety of tastes.

• Details of the Edinburgh Internal Book Festival as well as details of how to order tickets are available on their website. The Festival runs in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square Gardens from 15th to 31st August 2009.

The Sock Puppets Go To Hollywood

Further to our Tube Surf about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival we now have more details about the shows of The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.

They will be appearing at the Gilded Balloon in Bristo Square each night at 10.15pm from 5 to 30 August 2009. This is the third year that the Theatre will be taking part in the Fringe in an extravaganza entitled The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood.


During their residency in the Scottish capitol they will be ably assisted by their right (and left) hand man, artist Kev F Sutherland. Indeed Kev is such a close personal friend of the company that it can be truly said that they don’t make a move without him.

• More details are on the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre website. Tickets are available from the Gilded Balloon website.

Comics In Scotland: 2000AD And More

As part of the first national Oxfam Bookfest, which runs from 4 to 18 July 2009, the British charity will be holding a comics event in Edinburgh. With the Dundee Literary Festival Comics Day in June and the Edinburgh International Book Festival with its anticipated comics talks in August, central Scotland was already well served for comics events this summer so this is an extra bonus.

To be held between Noon and 3pm on Saturday 18 July in Edinburgh's McDonald Road Library located at the corner of McDonald Road and Leith Walk, the event is being advertised as a comics workshop covering 2000AD and More. Currently Commando and Spectacular Spiderman writer Ferg Handley is scheduled to appear with more guests due to be announced and attendees will also get the chance to bid on donated items during an auction.

This is only one of a number of book related events happening around the country in July organised by Oxfam which is the UK's largest retailer of second hand books. As yet there are no details of ticket prices or further guests .

• More details of the Oxfam Comics In Scotland event can be found on the Oxfam UK website.

• The locations of Oxfam Bookshops can be found using the Oxfam Shop Locator.

Timeframes - The 3rd Dundee Comics Conference

With the successful Scottish comics convention Hi-Ex over for this year and already confirmed as going ahead next year, the countdown to the next major Scottish comics event of the year is now in full swing. The third Dundee University Comics Conference, Timeframes, will be taking place in the modern, comfortable and well equipped D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre in the Tower Building of Dundee University on Sunday 28 June as part of the Dundee Literary Festival. While the event is more of a conference than a convention, organiser Dr Chris Murray of the University's English Department has an impressive line-up of guests planned covering a wide range of artists, writers and editors.

In addition to the presentations, the conference will host the opening of an exhibition in the university's Lamb Gallery featuring DC Thomson's much loved science fiction digest, Starblazer, which follows on from the impressive Beano exhibition held there last year. Starblazer editor Bill McLoughlin and artist Keith Robson will open the exhibition as well as giving a presentation on the title.

Among the other presentations during the day, writer and former 2000AD editor David Bishop will remain with the science fiction theme for a presentation on Alan Moore's 2000AD stories, while Manga Shakespeare artist Emma Vieceli will discuss her adaptations of Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing. Dr Mel Gibson will discuss Alice In Sunderland by last year's keynote speaker, Bryan Talbot, while this year's keynote speakers will be writers Alan Grant and Warren Ellis who will be talking, answering questions and signing their books.

Tickets are available in advance from the Dundee Literary Festival website for a very reasonable £10 for the entire day which includes a morning Writing Workshop from David Bishop. The main conference begins at 1pm and is scheduled to last until 7:30pm. Concessions are £5 while those only wishing to attend the morning workshop can do so for £3. There are no hidden booking charges and refreshments will be provided on the day.

• Details of the Comics Day are available on the Dundee Literary Festival website. Tickets can be purchased via the Dundee University on-line shop.

• Read the downthetubes review of last year's conference.

• Read the downthetubes interview with Starblazer editor Bill McLoughlin.

Hi-Ex Comics Convention Returns In 2010

After the successful second Hi-Ex comics convention held in Inverness on Valentine's weekend this year, organisers Vicky Stonebridge and Rich Clements have been in touch to let us know that Hi-Ex will return in 2010.

After heavy snowfall prevented many making their way to the inaugural Hi-Ex in 2008 and a close call with the weather again this year, Vicky and Rich have decided to slip the convention to slightly later in the year. Hi-Ex 3 will take place on the weekend of 27/28 March 2010.

This means that Hi-Ex will remain the first British comics convention on the calendar (unless of course a new, young upstart appears on the scene). Since that weekend is also the start of British Summer Time in the UK in 2010, it means that the clocks will go forward on the Sunday morning - which should prove interesting for those recovering from the previous night's hangover!

As with the previous two Hi-Exs, Hi-Ex 3 will take place in Eden Court on the banks of the River Ness, only a short walk from Inverness' town centre and railway station. Guests will be announced closer to the time.

• Visit the Hi-Ex Website

• downthetubes review of Hi-Ex in 2008

• downthetubes review of Hi-Ex 2 in 2009

Dave McKean Retrospective in Scotland

Dalmuir Library, Scotland is hosting a retrospective of artist Dave McKean's work until 30th May.

This free exhibition in the Library's Backdoor Gallery, part of the Booked! Festival which inclues appearances by SF writers Ian McLeod and Iain M. Banks, focuses on of framed works of original comic book art, book illustrations, photographs, and printed album covers is particularly aimed at a teenage and young adult audience -- although anyone with an interest in contemporary popular culture will find it exhilarating.

Dave McKean (www.davemckean.com) grew up with the exciting potential of New Comics - with the idea that for the artist the comic medium could be a means of creative expression and not merely an exercise in drawing graphic stereotypes.

McKean quickly emerged as an artist of rare innovative ideas, adapting mixed media and collage techniques to the compelling design of covers and layouts for comic books and Exhibitions the new graphic novels. Often working with Neil Gaiman, his reputation was spread through such works as Violent Cases, Arkham Asylum, Signal to Noise, Sandman, and Mr. Punch.

McKean embraced the new disciplines and possibilities of computer graphics from the 1980s onwards. He has already created many memorable pieces of work, which have assured him a place in the international history of 21st century graphic art.

In 2005 he made his directorial debut in film with Mirror Mask - a visually stunning fantasy story co-written with Gaiman, who in addition to comics projects, he has also worked with on the children's books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and Wolves in the Wall. (The latter has been interpreted for theatre by the Improbable Company together with the National Theatre of Scotland).

• The Dave McKean Retrospective is at the Backdoor Gallery, Dalmuir Library, 3 Lennox Place, Dalmuir G81 4HR. Open Mon, Wed - Fri: 9.30am - 5pm; Tue: 1.30pm - 8pm; Sat: 10am - 1pm
• Go to www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/library to download the Booked! 2009 programme of events, which includes more information on the McKean exhibition on Page 9

Photo Review: Hi-Ex 2 - From Inverness, With Love

by Jeremy Briggs

Last year's inaugural Hi-Ex comics convention, held on the first weekend in February, was besieged by snow leaving many guests and potential attendees unable to travel to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The downthetubes review of the event is here. The Christmas card sent last year by organisers Richmond Clements and Vicky Stonebridge even made light of the weather with a comment about it never snowing in February. Of course on the first weekend in February the snow that last year had only blanketed Scotland, this year blanketed the entire country but fortunately for everyone Hi-Ex was the second weekend, Valentine's weekend.

That said the drive from central Scotland up to the Highlands early on the Saturday morning began in darkness and drifting fog but as the sun rose it revealed the mountains in their snow covered glory. While the area around the ski resort of Aviemore retained the heavy snow of the previous week, the roads were clear and traffic was flowing normally.

As with last year's event, the convention was held in the bright modern surroundings of the Eden Court Theatre and Cinema complex on the banks of the River Ness in the centre of the town.

In a layout change to last year, due to the greater numbers of guests and dealers involved, the old dealer's room became the Artists and Writers Room while the dealers moved into the gymnasium sized One Touch Theatre, which gave everyone plenty of room to spread out.

The guests room benefited from the large windows of the section of Eden Court that was the old Bishop's Palace which gave the attendees a bright room to patiently queue in as they waited to talk to the guests. All Star Superman artist Frank Quitely, DFC artist Dave Shelton and Bioncle artist Leigh Gallagher were at their first Hi-Ex while Dan Dare artist Gary Erskine returned after the previous Hi-Ex and was rewarded by long queues for his sketches .

Manga-wise, artist and writer Asia Alfasi chatted away to her young fans...

...while at the other end of the very happy Manga table, Chi-Tan and Inko were kept busy providing sketches of their fans.

Writers Alan Grant and Al Ewing of 2000AD (and many others), Ferg Handley of Panini's Spiderman and and DC Thomson's Commando, and Michael Carroll of The New Heroes novels were on hand for autographs since, fortunately, fans don't normally ask writers to dash them off a quick paragraph to take home as a memento.

Meanwhile artists Al Davison, who is now working on the latest IDW Doctor Who comic, and Graeme Neil Reid, who is illustrating the latest Conn Iggulden Dangerous Book For Boys, set up their stalls in the dealers room to allow them to sell as well as talk to and sign for their fans.

The dealers room was almost at the other end of the complex from the guests room which lead to some confusion amongst those attendees that had been there the previous year but signs soon went up to help everyone out. Perhaps next year a map in the programme showing were each room was would help everyone but, that said, the staff at the Eden Court who were checking badges for the convention rooms were always helpful about where to go and very friendly at the same time.

Once found, the dealers room was very obvious as it was guarded by the imposing figure of Judge Minty promoting the fan film of the same name. The dealers ranged from the obvious FPI and Inverness' own comic store Heroes For Sale, via Cinebooks and Waterstones with a big selection of Viz Media and Tokyopop titles, to the small press stalls of Murky Depths, Melody Lee, Omnivistascope, Time Bomb Comics, Semiotic Cohesion and last and definitely not least Futurequake Press. The small pressers at Hi-Ex will be covered in another blog.

Mark Stevens was also in the dealers room showing off an impressive display of his scratch built SF vehicles. This was a new departure for the convention, and for Mark, which seemed to work well if the number of admiring looks the display attracted were anything to go by.

As with last year the Imperial forces of the 501st Garrison turned up to patrol the event turning heads both inside and outside the venue, sometimes in bewilderment and sometimes in nervousness, depending on the age of the viewer.

They were not the only costumes there since anyone turning up in costume was given free entry. This resulted in an array of Jedi and Manga girls walking around whilst the much younger attendees covered everything from a tiny Wonder Woman, complete with a gold tinsel lariat, to a small Davros who delighted all the old Doctor Who fans at one end of the dealers room. There were awards for the best costume each day but the downthetubes award for best costume has to go to one particular little girl on the Saturday. More over Cassandra Anderson as there is a new contender for the cutest Judge in the Mega City - with her plastic baking bowl helmet and wellie boots, let me present Judge Rose.

Organiser Rich Clements had to get in on the act as well with an all white suit which stopped many people in their tracks. After suggestions of fried chicken, or Vicky and him being Stonebridge and Clements (Deceased) he did not really have to point out that we should be calling him Mr. Luthor. (Perhaps next year the beard and ponytail will have to be sacrificed to help the illusion).

Co-organiser Vicky Stonebridge remained rather too sensible for such things but succumbed to Susan Thomson's face painting instead.

So a good time was had by all and between the auction and the raffle over £1400 was raised for the Children 1st charity, which rather put paid to any worries that the credit crunch could have badly affected the turnout and the spending power of the attendees.

So roll on Hi-Ex 2010 and remember, it never snows in February...

Countdown To Hi-Ex

The first British comics convention of the year, Hi-Ex, will be taking place at the Eden Court in Inverness over Valentine's weekend, 14 and 15 February. Guests this year will include 2000AD artists Mick McMahon and Colin MacNeil, Dan Dare artists Gary Erskine and John Haward, plus writers Alan Grant and Ferg Handley.

Last year's inaugural Hi-Ex had to contend with some of the worst snow of last winter. While it posed few problems in Inverness itself, it made travelling over the Scottish mountains to the capital of the Highlands interesting. No doubt Rich Clements and Vicky Stonebridge will be hoping for a slightly better weather forecast this time. As a preview for the convention, Rich has been talking to the BBC.

More details of the convention and its guests are on the Hi-Ex website.

The downthetubes reviews of Hi-Ex 2008 are here and here.

Sexier Than The President's Wife?

After hosting the Dundee Literary Festival Comics Day and the Official Beano 70th Anniversary Exhibition, the University of Dundee are continuing with their championing of all things comics related.

On Wednesday 29 October 2008, beginning at 6.00 pm, visiting lecturer Dr Laurence Grove of the University of Glasgow will give a talk entitled Sexier than the President's Wife: French Comics. This will explore the history of bande dessinée, giving an insight into French comics for those who have little or no experience of them and touching upon the ways in which the French comics culture differs from comics traditions in other countries.

Dr Grove is the President of the International Bande Dessinée Society and co-editor of The Francophone Bande Dessinée.

The talk will take place in the University of Dundee's Baxter Conference Suite, Room 1.36, 1st floor Tower Building. The talk is open to the public and entrance is free.

The Forgotten Heroes Of Beanotown

Not much warning but if anyone is within travelling distance of Dundee on Wednesday 8 October then Dr Chris Murray will be giving a talk to the Abertay Historical Society on The Forgotten Heroes Of Beanotown.

Dr Murray was the organiser of the Dundee Literary Festival Comics Day in June and talked at the Happy Birthday Beano event in July. This time his subject will be the often overlooked and short lived superheroes created for the DC Thomson comics and story papers in the 1930s and 1940s and the role that those titles played in the war effort.

The talk will take place at 6:30pm in Discovery Point on the Dundee waterfront on Wednesday 8 October 2008. Entrance is free and membership of the Abertay Historical Society is not required. Refreshments will be available from 6:00pm.

Scotland's Celebrity Chef

The latest cookbook from Scotland's newest celebrity chef, Maw Broon, has just been released. Last year's offering, simply entitled Maw Broon's Cookbook, sold over 170000 copies and so Mrs Brown has released a second this time entitled Maw Broon's But An' Ben Cookbook featuring recipes from their holiday cottage in the country.

Last year BBC Scotland viewers were treated to the sight of DC Thomson managing editor David Donaldson putting on his pinny and chef's hat to cook one of the recipes when Maw was unable to make an appearance.

Some of the recipes from the first book can be found on Scotland.org and it did take some criticism for the perceived unhealthiness of some of the recipes, so this year there is a push to emphasise the healthier recipes. This such a large family to cook for Mrs Brown was unable to come to the BBC Radio Scotland studio this year and so her publisher, Ron Grosset, appeared on her behalf.

To tie in with the release of the first book, the newspaper that The Broons appear in, The Sunday Post, published a Burns Supper supplement and a version of this is now being made available to the wider public as a paperback entitled The Broons' Burns Night.

Both of the Maw Broon's Cookbooks are currently available from Amazon and the The Broons' Burns Night is due to be released on 9 October 2008.